Rather Than Risk Record in Extra Inning Games, The Orioles Decide to Lose in the Ninth Inning

After eight innings of deadlocked baseball with CC Sabathia being matched by the deadly Voltron-like combo of Hammel-Patton-O’Day&Matusz, the Yankees went into the ninth against Orioles closer Jim Johnson tied at 2. Johnson, who saved 51 of 54 games and surrendered only three home runs all year long, promptly gave up a longball to Russell Martin who was fifth among Major League catchers with 21 home runs during the regular season.

After that, the formerly reserved Yankees broke through for four more runs to push the score to 7-2 with a number of bloops, blips, and blaps. If you were watching within the vicinity of sports radio fans, you would have thought that Derek Jeter’s inside-outed single through the hole on Raul Ibanez’s hit-and-run was the biggest play of the 21st century.

It was a disappointing finish for the Orioles, but it’s hard to feel too bad for a team that features Nate Mclouth (2 RBI) who was unceremoniously dropped from the Pirates and Lew Ford (2 hits) who, before this year, hadn’t played Major League Baseball while Obama was President. Sure, it may have been shrewd scouting on behalf of the Orioles or maybe, after ~~162.88~~ 163.88 games of good fortune, those magic beans just wore off.

The Orioles will send Wei-Yin Chen to the mound to face Andy Pettitte tomorrow night and attempt to square up the series before they head to Yankee Stadium.